#4 Duke Women defeat Maryland 68-65 on “Big Monday”

Duke defeated a pesky Maryland team 68-65 in a a game that was televised nationally by ESPN. The network came in for "Big Monday" and the Blue Devils came out with a big win to go to 2-0 in the

Queen of the floor burn, Waner has 20 steals in her last four games

ACC and 14-1 overall.

The teams opened the game trading blows which is to be expected in this rivalry. There were 17 lead changes in the game and 15 of them were in the first twenty minutes of play. Once Duke took the lead 21-20 on a Joy Cheek lay up, they took control to take a 40-29 lead into half time.

There were two key factors in their first half success. One was Joy Cheek who had 11 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists. In fact, Cheek had 9 of Dukes first twelve points and ended the game with14 points and 11 rebounds after returning to the starting lineup.

The other factor was Waner and Thomas defensive effort on Kristi Tolliver who was held scoreless.

Thomas was four of four from the free throw stripe in the final eight seconds.

But Toliver and the Terps warmed up in the second half and at the 8:38 mark, took the lead 55-54 on a Wiley-Gatewood three point shot.

Just after that play Abby Waner came back with an assist to Chante Black to take the lead back. Waner later hit a layup which stretched the lead to 64-60, but Marisa Coleman cut it to two with a lay up of her own at the other end at the 1:00 mark.

The Duke defense played tough and Maryland couldn't find the mark as Toliver missed a long three in front of the Maryland bench with 13 ticks on the clock. The Terps then fouled Jasmine Thomas who went to the line and calmly dropped two in to give the Devils a 66-62 advantage.

One might have thought the game was sealed, but Tolliver drained a quick three to make it a 66-65

Duke got a good efforts from multiple players

Duke lead. Tolliver immediately committed a hard foul on Thomas with two second left, but the sophomore stepped to the line and knocked down both helping the Devils to a 68-65 win.

“That was just great man-to-man defense by our team. We wanted to make sure she was contested in a multiple fashion, if possible, because you can’t get the ball out of her hands, so you have to do something to direct the shot as much as possible,” said McCallie on the play of her defense in the final seconds.

Waner added, "I pulled Jas [Jasmine Thomas] aside and told her ‘Make this free throw because trust me it matters’. There are certain things that you learn from losses and I will never take a three-point lead with a few seconds to go for granted."

Thomas had one of her better games of the season scoring 15 points and despite being one of the

A seson high 7550 cheering fans were in Cameron

teams worst free throw shooters she went 6 of 7 from the charity stripe.

Chante Black was strong in the second half and ended the game with 13 points and a career high 14 rebounds.

Abby Waner grabbed 8 rebounds, 7 on the defensive end scored 13 points and dished out 4 assists and 3 steals, both team highs. Waner has now had a phenomenal 20 steals in her last four contests.

"The plays Abby made down the stretch were huge, fun to watch really, plus her eight rebounds were absolutely important to us," Said Coach McCallie during the post game press conference.

Duke got a lot of energy from Bridgette Mitchell off the bench. Mitchell had 6 points and 6 rebounds. Another key contributor was Krsytal Thomas who tallied 4 points and 4 rebounds in just seven minutes of play.

The Terps were led by Marrissa Coleman with 14 points, Lynetta Kizer who suffered with cramps 12

Tolliverhit a huge shot to pull Maryland within 1 with seconds left in the contest

points, Toliver 12 points and Anjale Barrett with 10 points.

Duke handily out rebounded the Terps 56-39 and overcame 25.6% shooting from the field in the final half to win. Another huge plus in the win was the Devils going 12 of 14 from the free throw stripe.

Sidebar Comments -

How big is this win for Duke?

It's plenty big. Big win on a big Monday. This is the best start of McCallies career and she has her most talented team ever. Duke has adjusted to her coaching style which is aggressive physical play and good defense. Duke proved before a

Blue Devil games are fan friendly

national audience that they definitely deserve their #4 ranking.

Jasmine Thomas -

This game should go a long way with concerns to her confidence. The second year guard is becoming more consistent, but Coach P made a telling comment when she said, Jasmine played well in spots.

Senior leadership -

Chante Black showed up big when it counted and Abby was a true leader on both ends of the floor tonight.

Duke depth -

Coach P has done a good job at build her depth and there seems to be a lot of players able to step

Black had a career high 14 boards

up on a given night. This will be especially critical come tournament time.